1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to the field of stringed musical instruments, and more particularly to a string bender that allows a musician to vary the resonance of a string while playing the instrument.
2. Description of the Related Art
For the purposes of the present disclosure, either the term “bending” or the term “string bending” will be understood to the technique for altering the sound produced by a vibrating string by changing the pitch of the string. Bending can for exemplary purposes be accomplished by pushing or pulling a vibrating string to vary the tension on the string, preferably without dampening the string vibrations. By varying tension, the pitch produced by the vibrating string changes. This is similar to the pitch change during tuning, when the string is tightened or loosened to tune to a proper pitch. However, instead of initial tuning, bending is done during the playing of the instrument, and can be used to create a vibrato sound.
One prior art area where string benders have found great utility is with pedal steel guitars. The pedal steel guitar is a lute-type instrument having a plurality of strings extending generally longitudinally in a horizontal plane. A pedal or lever-actuated pitch changer allows the player to include sounds and musical chords that would not otherwise be available. The pitch changer varies the tension on selected strings or groups of strings. Exemplary pedal steel guitar string benders are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,893,282 by Searles, entitled “Tone varying attachment for a string musical instrument”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,214 by Flynn, entitled “Pitch changing device for a pedal steel guitar”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,075 by Carter, entitled “Pitch-changing device for a pedal steel guitar”; U.S. Pat. No. 7,247,779 by Zumsteg, entitled “Pitch changing arrangements for pedal steel guitar”; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,759,568 by Jackson, entitled “Pitch adjustment device for string instruments”, the teachings and contents of each which are incorporated herein by reference.
Single string benders are often used by players of the more popular hand-held or strap-supported guitars to simulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar. The most common purpose of a single string bender is to raise the note played on the “B” string by one full note when the lever is fully depressed with the side of the picking hand, though many benders can be used to raise the note by other increments. By depressing the lever before the string is plucked, it can lower the note by the same interval. Although the “B” string is the most common position, a string bender will perform the same function on any of the strings. In addition, there are a number of multiple-string benders that are used to vary the tension on a plurality of strings simultaneously.
A number of patents that illustrate hand-operated string benders, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, include U.S. Pat. No. 1,259,062 by Wilber, entitled “Stringed musical instrument”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,073,226 by Schrickel, entitled “Guitar attachment”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,825,256 by Smallwood, entitled “Universal vibrato for musical instruments”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,381 by Matthew et al, entitled “Tremolo devices for stringed instruments”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,183,758 by Matthew et al, entitled “Bridges for stringed instruments”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,237,502 by Moseley, entitled “Stringed musical instrument”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,479,917 by Zitnik Jr. et al, entitled “Multiple lever manual tone changer for guitars”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,201 by Storey, entitled “Combined bridge and tailpiece assembly for a stringed musical instrument”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,190 by Maloney, entitled “Pitch raising system for guitars”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,884 by Bowden, entitled “Detachable string bender”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,384,311 by Cota, entitled “Guitar having tremolo device on each string thereof”; U.S. Pat. No. 7,329,808 by Davis, entitled “String bending device for stringed musical instruments”; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,696,420 by Thompson, entitled “String bender for electric guitar”. Each of these patents effect tension behind the bridge saddle, meaning that as tension is applied, the string must slide across the saddle. This motion across the saddle is undesirable, since the string sliding accelerates wear and string breakage. Furthermore, the inherent friction can lead to unpredictable variability in pitch both whether or not the bender is activated. Finally, many of these require either custom guitar fabrication or substantial and undesirable alterations.
A patent similar to the hand-operated benders, but which is hip-operated, is U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,670 by Borisoff, entitled “String bender attachment construction”, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference. This patent describes a product known commercially as the Borisoff “Hip-Shot”. The “Hip-Shot” suffers from many of the limitations of the aforementioned hand-operated benders, but has nevertheless been widely used among guitar players. A few U.S. patents, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, illustrate using the bridge saddle as a pivotal member to induce and vary string tension, including: U.S. Pat. No. 2,741,146 by Fender, entitled “Tremolo device for stringed instruments”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,124,991 by Costen, entitled “Vibrato tuning device for stringed musical instruments”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,417 by Glaser II, entitled “Tone changer for stringed instrument”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,732 by Kato et al, entitled “Split tremolo device”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,208 by Kusek, entitled “Guitar with adjustable tremolo”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,814,746 by Stafford, entitled “Pitch modifying guitar bridge assembly”. While these devices each offer a number of benefits and advantages over much of the prior art, they each also require either substantial material removal and reconstruction of the guitar body or replacement of the entire tail stock, either that therefore necessitates additional drilling or other similar substantial, often irreversible, and very undesirable reworking of the guitar body.
In addition to U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,417 by Glaser II, U.S. Pat. No. 3,512,443 by Parson et al, entitled “Shoulder strap control for string instruments”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,686,993 by Fender, entitled “Shoulder strap-operated pitch-changing means for spanish guitars”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,954 by Parsons, entitled “Back plate mounted shoulder strap control for electric type stringed instruments”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,580 by Higgins, entitled “Peg bender” illustrated strap operated benders, the contents and teachings of each which are incorporated herein by reference.
Undesirably, many of these aforementioned benders, including these prior art strap benders and many of the hand-actuated benders, require substantial machining or other permanent alteration or modification of existing guitar structures. This makes installation or removal of the bender far more difficult or impossible, and can adversely impact the value of the guitar. As a result, many players are understandably hesitant to install a bender.
Two additional U.S. patents that describe bridge tuning apparatus without string bending, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, include: U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,461 by Rose, entitled “Apparatus for restraining and fine tuning the strings of a musical instrument, particularly guitars”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,907 by Rose, entitled “Tuning systems for stringed instruments”.
In addition to the aforementioned patents, Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition copyright 1983, is incorporated herein by reference in entirety for the definitions of words and terms used herein.